Quietex - What is the best suppliment to calm down my barrel horse mare?

What is the best suppliment to calm down my barrel horse mare?

I have a 10 year old Barrel Horse Mare. She's "hot" all the time -in and out of the show ring. She doesn't "walk"....its always a prance, side-pass, and head-throwing because she wants to GO!! Its hard for me to "pleasure ride" her. I can't enjoy myself. People have suggested suppliments, such as Vita-Calm, Calm and Cool, Quietex, and Mare Magic to give her to "knock the edge off". I want to be able to pull her out of the barn and hop on her and her be calm enough to walk. Just wanted to see if anyone has used any of these suppliments or has any other suggestions for another brand. And how did it work for your horse?? Thanks I have been riding Barrel horses all my life. I know how to handle them. My riding is fine. I've had many of horses who JUST get "hot" while at a show, but they calm right back down and i was able to pleasure ride them at home. However, I just bought this Mare a few months ago. I ran her on the barrel pattern at a show ONCE. I dont run run run her. I know nothing about who trained her and how they trained her. I do agree that this is from her being ran too much prior to me. I cant let the reins loose and relax. She will take off. I dont have the facility to retrain her. I have no arena. Just pasture. She's soo "spazzed out" when i get on her. She wants to run constantly. How do i train her to slow down when she's so spazzed that she wont listen? Thats the only reason i was resulting to suppliments.

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I suggest training, for you and your horse. When I was younger, as in 11-12, my ex-racer/now barrel horse, gelding was super duper hot. Did the prance thing rather than walk. We always gave Ace. It didn't really work anyways, because I wasn't as relaxed as I am now. But now that I'm a few years older and a much better rider, I've realized that it's retarded to give up and use a calming drug, when I just needed to learn how to ride him. Just relax and "get with her". It took me a few months of really trying to change my riding. You really have to listen to your horse. I have to stay off his face and basically ride with a draped rein and like I'm just lounging, even though it feels like he's always ready to take off. As if I'm just there for the ride, and let him do his thing. But it works. He's really a fantastic horse, but it takes the right kind of rider to do good with him. This works with my friend's mare too, whose also very hot. And my old trainer's mare as well. Don't resort to drugs and supplements, when you could just improve your riding skills and make yourself a better rider and your horse a better horse.
The BEST supplement for this horse....is TRAINING. You've caused this by running the snot out of her all the time. What do you expect? How can she be a calm horse if all you do is RUN?? Reason why I can say this is because barrel horses (the ones trained by amateurs) are turned into spazoids because they are only raced around like motorcycles. Retrain her with a simple smooth bar snaffle bit, ride her with a direct rein only (no more hauling on her face with any shank bit or other type of bit with more bite than a smooth bar snaffle)...... And do lots of One rein stops, serpentines, etc... bending exercises,.....and the WAY you do them is important......know how to take out the slack and never pull,.....rewarding with a release at the right time..... This poor horse has had her brain fried by too much running. SLOW down..... a professional barrel horse trainer would never run the horse only....a pro trainer walks, trots, and lopes the horse a lot......with loads of bending work.....to get the horse soft and supple and easy going, and to help the horse be calm and under control......and only runs the barrels sparingly. You've just run run run...and this horse is just anticipating that and she's full of STRESS because of it..... No amount of chemicals, or natural supplements can ever do what good ol fashion common sense training can do for a horse like yours. STOP running and start retraining. For better results, work alongside a trainer. Of you don't want a trainer, or can't afford one, then invest in some good training dvds. Clinton Anderson has some DVDs specifically for the barrel racing horse.
One thing I have noticed about barrel racers is they tend to over work a horse, work him 2 days a week and go on long pleasure rides 2 or 3 days, you might cut the protein in the feed down a bit also. Most barrel racers think the more protein you give them the more speed you get, not true over protein in your horse just means it is closer to founder and you have to work that energy off or they founder. I feed a 14% protein to horses I rope off of or work cattle on. Pleasure horses get 10 to 12% depending on what I am doing with them. Race horse peoplem want lots of energy so they feed lots of protein. With a barrel horse you have to find thst happy medium between speed and controle. Go back to the basics with the horse do lots of ground work.
What you have to understand is that your mare was trained to be that way. That's what she's supposed to do, is run. She hasn't had the best training if she is hot all the time. I barrel race, and I don't know one horse that is too hot to pleasure ride. Many of them get hot in the arena or if they see barrels, but it doesn't take much to calm them down. But, being a barrel racer I know that some horses just are hot all the time. If you've tried training your horse to be calmer - trust me it can be done - and it didn't work than a supplement may help. If you do use a supplement, continue to train your horse. (One thing I've found that helps my horse remain calm is to walk and trot the barrel pattern before and after you run it. That way they still are allowed to run it, but are made to calm down and walk it too.) As for the best supplement - I would not go with Mare Magic. She's not being mare-ish, she's being hot. Everyone I've known that used Mare-Magic hasn't had very good results with it, because they were trying to fix problems similar to yours and that's not what the supplement is for. Vita-Calm, Quietex and Ex-Stress have all worked for friends. Ex-Stress may not work as well in you're situation though, because I don't know if your more is actually stressed out. It sounds like what she needs is just calming down, nothing else. My barrel horse is a gelding, he's the total opposite of your horse. I've never needed any supplements so I'm not sure which I pick, except for what I've already said. Good luck. :)
None of these things work, especially for a horse like yours. Her behavior is a conditioned response. It is what she has been taught all of her life and it is all she knows. If you are not willing to re-start her like a green colt, there is no hope of change or improving her life. Drugs, natural or otherwise, are never the answer. They do not resolve anything. A horse as "hot" as you describe will not be effected in the least by herbal remedies. The amount of medication it would take to truly calm her would make her unsafe to ride. What you describe is a sad but common situation with barrel/racing horses. They are very unhappy in their lives and it is heartbreaking. The real tragedy here is that the concern seems to be your inability to go on a pleasure ride instead of the fact that your horse lives her entire life consumed by anxiety and fear. This is not a personal criticism, just an attempt to look at the matter from the point of view of the horse and her well being. I tried some of these natural calming supplements years ago when I took on the rehabilitation of an OTTB. Nothing helped until I re-started and trained my horse. Now I can ride him without a bridle or saddle and I can trim his feet at liberty in the pasture with his horse buddies grazing nearby. He has complete trust in me and seeks out my company over that of his pasture friends most of the time. The development of that kind of relationship, trust and respect is what will help your horse be calm and less fearful in her life. It would be great for both of you to be able to enjoy yourself in all situations. Her performance will improve in and out of the ring, and the calming of her mind and body will be invaluable for her. With her present state, it is definite that she has ulcers and gastric distress. If she can be more comfortable in her life, she will be so much healthier and much safer for you. Hope this makes sense and you can help her, but I completely understand that everyone does not want the same thing from their relationship with their horse or they do not or cannot take the time to follow the steps necessary to achieve the goal. Unfortunately, nothing is immediate or magic. It is simple but takes time, patience and kindness for the optimum outcome for you and especially your horse. There is really no substitute in reality. Best regards.
thats how alot of barrel racers are loll maybe you should cut down on the grain a little bit because ive heard that gives them alot of energy depending on what feed it is. or before just warm her up before your turn. Or if she doesnt walk make her stand, for a couple of seconds and say "No, walk" and keep doing that until she learns. Thats what i did with my 5 year old QH mare and he learned fast.
http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductCompare.aspx?CATID=11 there are many different supplements on this page! i have used the mare magic and it seems to work pretty well...
Training, training, training. This is what I would do: -Get her out and lunge her. Do a bit of loping, but a lot more trotting. Work on voice commands and respect. Then let her walk out until she's calm. -Saddle her up and hop on. Walk until she's quite bored. Then pick up the trot. Trot around the arena, doing a medium speed trot (a working trot). -If she decides she wants to run, pull her into a circle (lightly), and keep her in the circle saying "whoa" and "easy" until she slows to a trot. DO NOT yank on her mouth to slow her down. Put a slight pressure on her mouth, but focus on sitting back and talking quietly to her while she's in the circle until she slows. -Or, every time she speeds up when you don't ask her to, you could stop and back her up. I don't really recommend this though unless your horse will stop with a verbal commend because a lot of people would end up just yanking on the mouth to stop. -Just work on trotting. Lots and lots of trotting. It will burn her energy and build muscle and get her to respect you. Have a whole session of just trotting and walking. -After a week or so when she's got a good trot, start loping. Lope in reining circles though: only use half the arena and keep an even circle. Work on getting her shoulders up and out. -Then start working on large fast circles to slow small circles. The large fast circle should be half the arena and at whatever her natural speed is. When you get to the center of the arena, ask her to slow down and make a smaller circle. The push her back out again. -Basically, just work on a ton of transitions from fast to slow. Keep your hands very light and use your voice and legs. Supplements will not do her any good. They might take the "edge" off, but she won't change and you'll become reliant on these things.